1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to endoluminal vascular prosthesis deployment, and in particular, to a dual concentric guidewire system for maintaining post deployment access to the treatment site.
2. Description of the Related Art
An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a sac caused by an abnormal dilation of the wall of the aorta, a major artery of the body, as it passes through the abdomen. The abdomen is that portion of the body which lies between the thorax and the pelvis. It contains a cavity, known as the abdominal cavity, separated by the diaphragm from the thoracic cavity and lined with a serous membrane, the peritoneum. The aorta is the main trunk, or artery, from which the systemic arterial system proceeds. It arises from the left ventricle of the heart, passes upward, bends over and passes down through the thorax and through the abdomen to about the level of the fourth lumbar vertebra, where it divides into the two common iliac arteries.
The aneurysm usually arises in the infrarenal portion of the diseased aorta, for example, below the kidneys. When left untreated, the aneurysm may eventually cause rupture of the sac with ensuing fatal hemorrhaging in a very short time. High mortality associated with the rupture led initially to transabdominal surgical repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Surgery involving the abdominal wall, however, is a major undertaking with associated high risks. There is considerable mortality and morbidity associated with this magnitude of surgical intervention, which in essence involves replacing the diseased and aneurysmal segment of blood vessel with a prosthetic device which typically is a synthetic tube, or graft, usually fabricated of Polyester, Urethane, DACRON™, TEFLON™, or other suitable material.
To perform the surgical procedure requires exposure of the aorta through an abdominal incision which can extend from the rib cage to the pubis. The aorta must be closed both above and below the aneurysm, so that the aneurysm can then be opened and the thrombus, or blood clot, and arteriosclerotic debris removed. Small arterial branches from the back wall of the aorta are tied off. The DACRON™ tube, or graft, of approximately the same size of the normal aorta is sutured in place, thereby replacing the aneurysm. Blood flow is then reestablished through the graft. It is necessary to move the intestines in order to get to the back wall of the abdomen prior to clamping off the aorta.
If the surgery is performed prior to rupturing of the abdominal aortic aneurysm, the survival rate of treated patients is markedly higher than if the surgery is performed after the aneurysm ruptures, although the mortality rate is still quite high. If the surgery is performed prior to the aneurysm rupturing, the mortality rate is typically slightly less than 10%. Conventional surgery performed after the rupture of the aneurysm is significantly higher, one study reporting a mortality rate of 66.5%. Although abdominal aortic aneurysms can be detected from routine examinations, the patient does not experience any pain from the condition. Thus, if the patient is not receiving routine examinations, it is possible that the aneurysm will progress to the rupture stage, wherein the mortality rates are significantly higher.
Disadvantages associated with the conventional, prior art surgery, in addition to the high mortality rate include the extended recovery period associated with such surgery; difficulties in suturing the graft, or tube, to the aorta; the loss of the existing aorta wall and thrombosis to support and reinforce the graft; the unsuitability of the surgery for many patients having abdominal aortic aneurysms; and the problems associated with performing the surgery on an emergency basis after the aneurysm has ruptured. A patient can expect to spend from one to two weeks in the hospital after the surgery, a major portion of which is spent in the intensive care unit, and a convalescence period at home from two to three months, particularly if the patient has other illnesses such as heart, lung, liver, and/or kidney disease, in which case the hospital stay is also lengthened. The graft must be secured, or sutured, to the remaining portion of the aorta, which may be difficult to perform because of the thrombosis present on the remaining portion of the aorta. Moreover, the remaining portion of the aorta wall is frequently friable, or easily crumbled.
Since many patients having abdominal aortic aneurysms have other chronic illnesses, such as heart, lung, liver, and/or kidney disease, coupled with the fact that many of these patients are older, the average age being approximately 67 years old, these patients are not ideal candidates for such major surgery.
More recently, a significantly less invasive clinical approach to aneurysm repair, known as endovascular grafting, has been developed. Parodi, et al. provide one of the first clinical descriptions of this therapy. Parodi, J. C., et al., “Transfemoral Intraluminal Graft Implantation for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms,” 5 Annals of Vascular Surgery 491 (1991). Endovascular grafting involves the transluminal placement of a prosthetic arterial graft within the lumen of the artery.
Endoluminal repair or exclusion of aortic aneurysms has been performed for the past several years. The goal of endoluminal aortic aneurysm exclusion has been to correct this life threatening disease in a minimally invasive manner in order to effectuate a patient's quick and complete recovery. Various vascular grafts exist in the prior art that have been used to exclude aortic aneurysms. In general, transluminally implantable prostheses adapted for use in the abdominal aorta comprise a tubular wire cage surrounded by a tubular PTFE or Dacron sleeve. Both balloon expandable and self expandable support structures have been proposed. Endovascular grafts adapted to treat both straight segment and bifurcation aneurysms have also been designed.
Endoluminal implantation is an increasingly accepted technique for implanting vascular grafts. Typically, this procedure involves percutaneously inserting a vascular graft or prosthesis by using a delivery catheter. This process eliminates the need for major surgical intervention thereby decreasing the risks associated with vascular and arterial surgery. Various catheter delivery systems for prosthetic devices are described in the prior art.
For example, certain current delivery systems for a bifurcated stent graft system or a graft having at least one branch portion use two sheaths moving in opposing directions to deploy the distal segment of the graft before the proximal segment. The outer sheath is first retracted to deploy a portion of the mid-body and the contralateral limb. Then, the front sheath is advanced distally to deploy the distal end of the graft. See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,660,030. Other delivery systems, for example as disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 11/522,292, filed Sep. 15, 2006 and incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, may use a plurality of axially spaced releasable restraint members temporarily connected by a pull wire to allow the distal main graft portion to be deployed before a proximal graft portion. Typically, these delivery systems are delivered to the aneurysm location over a guidewire. The guidewire may be further used to release a branch graft portion of the prosthesis, for example, by operably connecting a branch graft restraint mechanism to the guidewire and proximally withdrawing the guidewire from the vasculature.
Once the bifurcation graft has been deployed and implanted, a variety of procedures may desirably be accomplished. For example, it may be advantageous to implant a cuff on the proximal end of the main graft portion to secure the graft and thereby prevent movement or slippage of the main graft portion. Alternatively, it may be necessary to dilate the stenosis or touch up or re-establish the expansion of the graft. These procedures require advancing another catheter to the graft location along a guidewire. However, the positioning of a guidewire through the graft after the graft has been deployed is difficult since the tip of the guidewire will snag on the wire support cage of the graft. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a guidewire assembly configured to remain placed through a graft once the graft has been deployed and to allow access through the expanded graft for subsequent catheterizations.